CHARLOTTE, N.C. — LeBron James, in a cover story in Sports Illustrated this week, admits he wasn’t himself in his first year in Miami and vows to purge the demons during these playoffs that start with the Knicks tomorrow at American Airlines Arena.

“I lost touch with who I was as a basketball player and a person,” James said. “I got caught up in everything that was going on around me, and I felt like I had to prove something to people, and I don’t know why. Everything was tight, stressed.’’

After Tyson Chandler and the Mavericks romped the Heat in The Finals, James sat in his Miami home for two straight weeks without leaving, growing a significant beard.

“I looked like Tom Hanks in Castaway,’’ James told the magazine.

James, who will try to avoid the SI cover jinx, averaged 26.7 points, 6.0 assists and 9.0 rebounds against the Knicks during three regular-season victories this season. It was a continuation of his dominance over the Knicks, but this will be the first time he faced the club in the playoffs.